Follow us

Firms face corporate finance work crisis

Crisis looms over the corporate finance departments of accountancy firms after it emerged that deal values have plummeted by nearly two thirds over the past year, denting hopes of a recovery by the end of 2002.

Figures, compiled by Bureau van Dijk/Zephyr exclusively for Accountancy Age, reveal that in the first six months of this year, the large accountancy firms worked on only £5.9bn of deals, with KPMG leading projects worth £2bn. This compared with nearly £15bn for the same period last year, a fall of more than 60%.

It was also revealed the number of deals where accountancy firms acted as a lead adviser had also tumbled. KPMG topped the table, working on 44 deals with a value of £2.1bn between January and June this year.

The biggest loser was Andersen, which last year topped the poll with £4.5bn, but this year only recorded £247m worth of deals as it reeled from the aftershock of Enron.

At the beginning of the year, commentators expected to see an upturn in activity by the summer – now there is little hope of increased activity until the end of the year at the earliest.

Ian Smart, managing partner for corporate finance at Grant Thornton, which advised on £192m of deals, said: ‘It is going to be a long slog.’